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Monday, September 24, 2012

Working on the weekend; and more push-ups

First let's get push-ups out of the way. Then I'm going to share some updates on my professional life.

Day

Sets

Total

...

...

...

9/12 Wednesday

15 10 20

45

9/13 Thursday

15 20

35

9/14 Friday

20 20

40

9/15 Saturday

20 20

40

9/16 Sunday

25 20

45

9/17 Monday

20 20

40

9/18 Tuesday

None

0

9/19 Wednesday

20 30

50

9/20 Thursday

30

30

9/21 Friday

25 20

45

9/22 Saturday

20

20

9/23 Sunday

20 30

50

9/24 Monday

25 30 15

70

That's 510 more since the last time I wrote, which puts me at 870 for the month. I have 130 push-ups left to do, and six days left in which to do them, for an average of 21 2/3 per day. Eminently do-able. I'm much stronger now than I was when I started. All it took was consistency in a routine that inexorably got me to where I wanted to be. Kind of like Mustachianism! A flavor of lifestyle design where we sow little habits that pay big dividends and compound until you've got a big ol' stash; in this case, of push-up prowess.

Yesterday marked a milestone in my professional life. Sunday was the first time I ever worked on a weekend. It was totally voluntary too: I wanted to get ahead. Long story short, I care about the project I'm on, and I want what's best for our customers. That said, the jury is still out on whether my boss recognizes the value I'm providing. But I'm optimistic that by doing my best and not settling into complacency, sooner or later the work I'm doing will pay dividends.

Sometimes I'm bullish on work, other times bearish, but I do know a couple of things: 1) I never love my job enough not to mind that I have to be doing it, and 2) I feel most effective when I feel least tied down to my job. I've been fantasizing about the day when the sole reason I'll go to work is because of the good I can do, and not because of the paycheck it provides. That will probably be a decade or more in coming, but with every paycheck I'm making progress toward that (and other) goal(s).

In student loan news, this month I've sent payments of $700 and $900 in that direction. It'll be enough to get my balance somewhere in the mid-$10k range. It's totally a habit at this point ("oh, got paid again, money sitting in my checking account; time to make a payment!"). I'm making progress even more quickly than I had hoped almost a year ago. Remember that I gave myself a little over two years to pay off a little under $32k in student loan debt. Now it's looking like I'll get there in 15 months at most.

Congrat on the push-ups as well as the student loan payments. I had about the same balance as you did and paid it off last year. Would have perfered to invest that money, but it feels great to no longer have any debt!